Brazil’s Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo said on Wednesday that he expects two new trade deals to be signed between the trade bloc Mercosur and other regions in the second half of 2019, hailing a new era of openness in Brazil.
Brazil's Foreign Trade Secretary Marcos Troyjo says that Jair Bolsonaro's government was decisive in pulling off the free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union.
Fisheries exports from Mercosur member countries which now face tariffs ranging from 8% to 15% in the European Union will see them gradually disappear during a seven-year period, according to the terms of the wide-ranging strategic trade and cooperation agreement signed this week between the two blocks.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Sunday that it could take up to three years for the free-trade deal agreed by the European Union and Mercosur to come into force, as it depends on approvals by lawmakers of all countries involved.
The European Union and Mercosur reached on Friday a political agreement for an ambitious, balanced and comprehensive trade agreement. The EU is the first major partner to strike a trade pact with Mercosur, a bloc comprising Argentina, Brazil Paraguay and Uruguay.
A protest by the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) is taking place at the European Commission offices in Dublin over the “double standards of the commission” in their reckless pursuit of a sell-out trade deal” with the Mercosur trade bloc.
French President Emmanuel Macron and three other national leaders warned the European Commission that a trade deal with trade bloc Mercosur could ultimately destabilize production and the agricultural sector.
A massive blackout left tens of millions of people without electricity in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and parts of Chile and southern Brazil on Sunday. The Argentine president called it an “unprecedented” failure in the countries' interconnected power grid.
The presidents of Argentina and Brazil said on Thursday that an agreement is imminent on a free trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur. Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro and Argentina's Mauricio Macri expressed confidence that the deal would soon be signed as they met in Buenos Aires for talks.
Brazil and Argentina have started discussing a reduction in the common external tariff (TEC) of the Mercosur trade block, sources in both governments revealed on Wednesday, as their market-friendly presidents look to boost economic growth.